The Art of Playing Third Wheel
by Haiku Kitten
Summary: Being in love with your best friend isn't easy; especially when they don't love you back. Mild K/H One sided


A/N: Okay, let me just say that it sucks to realize that you love your closest friend as more than just a friend, and then end up having to follow around while she and her boyfriend enjoy themselves, knowing you only got invited along in the first place is because she didn't want you to feel left out (I mean, honestly, they've snuck off to make out in the dark and left you watching the movie with her dad). Anyway, point being, I often get compared to Hiei myself, and so I realized that it would be way too easy to write about it from Hiei's POV. Hence came about this little fic. I hope you enjoy.

**The Art of Playing Third Wheel**

"He's not good enough for you."

Kurama sighed and looked up from his homework to gaze at the demon sitting on his bed. Hiei stared back, determination in his eyes.

"Let it go, Hiei," the fox insisted. "I don't want to talk about this right now, alright? How was your stay in Makai last week?"

This was how it had been since Kurama had started dating a human boy he'd met at work. Hiei was unhappy with the relationship from the start, but his hatred for the human had grown deeper and deeper. He would steadfastly insist that Kurama deserved better. And Kurama would steadfastly insist that he was happy.

That didn't really make Hiei feel much better about it.

Hiei sighed and turned his gaze to the bedroom window. "It was okay. Boring." And lonely. But he didn't say that out loud.

"Well, then you should stay around here more often," Kurama commented, sparing a smile in Hiei's direction. "You know, it's not as much fun when you're gone."

"You have your boyfriend to keep you company," Hiei responded easily. Kurama rolled his eyes and turned back to his homework.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could catch a movie tomorrow. I haven't seen you in a while, so it might be fun to catch up. What do you say?"

Hiei pondered the offer for a moment. "… I suppose." Hiei didn't like movies. They were boring. But he did like any excuse to spend time with Kurama. Lately he'd found himself giving in more easily to the kitsune's whims.

Kurama looked somewhat surprised. "I didn't expect you to give in so easily," he remarked. Hiei shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe I missed you too."

* * *

Hiei arrived at Kurama's house early the next day, entering by window as was usual. Kurama wasn't in his bedroom and so the demon went in search of the other, heading down the stairs to the Hatanakas' living room.

Shiori looked up from her seat on the sofa, where she was knitting a scarf of some sort. The television played in the background, some sort of action film. "Hiei! So nice to see you again," she greeted with a smile. "Shuichi's in the kitchen. Shuichi, Hiei's here!"

Kurama's mother had long since grown used to Hiei's attachment to her son. And Hiei had long since stopped hiding his presence in their household when he visited. He nodded to her in greeting and stood awkwardly in the doorway as he waited for Kurama.

The redhead bounced in, a radiant smile on his face. "Hey," he greeted Hiei when he spotted him. "Have a good day?"

Hiei glanced at him and remained silent for a moment, suddenly feeling anxious. Kurama had carefully brushed out his hair and braided it and his outfit accented his features well. The demon felt his cheeks grow a little hot. He looked away in embarrassment. Hopefully Kurama hadn't noticed that he was staring… "It was fine."

"Well, that's good." The doorbell rang and Kurama jumped. "I'll get it." He rushed forward before either Hiei or Shiori could object. Hiei growled low in his throat when the door was opened to reveal none other than Kurama's boyfriend.

"What is he doing here?" he demanded immediately, not caring about how polite he was. Kurama shot him a warning look.

"Hiei, I asked Yoshi if he wanted to watch the movie with us," the fox explained. "I thought it would be a good chance for the three of us to hang out and maybe get along better."

Hiei snorted in annoyance. "You think I'll stick around to socialize with this lowlife?"

"I'm hoping you will," Kurama replied, looking a little hurt. "But you can leave in you want to, Hiei. Nothing's stopping you."

The little demon's eyes narrowed. "You owe me."

The brunette in the doorway cleared his throat. "Uh… can I come in, love?" He glanced past Kurama at the now sulking Hiei. "Look, Shuichi wants us to try to get along. I'm up for that if you are."

"I'm not," Hiei replied quite simply. He sniffed and turned on his heel, heading for the kitchen. "I'm going to get a glass of water."

Not surprisingly, Yoshi took the passenger's seat of Kurama's little blue car and Hiei, as the accompanying friend, was left the back seat. He took it, because it would have seemed strange if he'd 

merely perched himself on the roof or something to avoid proximity with Kurama's boyfriend, but he wasn't happy about it. He glowered at the back of Yoshi's head at the pulled out of the driveway.

Kurama attempted to ignore the tension in the air as he headed for the local Drive-In. Occasionally he would try to start conversation, but it wasn't just Hiei's hatred of Yoshi that prevented him from conversing with the human. Hiei didn't know anything about human matters, such as the latest popular singers or fashions. And Yoshi didn't know anything about anything else. And obviously Hiei couldn't talk to Kurama about the latest goings on in Makai like he wanted to, or the new fighting techniques he'd learned, with Yoshi around.

Hiei decided that it wasn't very much fun playing third wheel. Third wheel was an uncomfortable position where one person, willing to go to the ends of the earth and back for the one they cared about, had to sit back and watch while the one they cared about kissed and loved the one guy that just wasn't good enough.

Kurama parked the car and turned off the ignition. "I'm going to go get us some popcorn and soda," he said. "I'll be right back."

"I'll come with you," Hiei spoke up before Yoshi had the chance to. He ignored the somewhat sullen look sent in his direction by the human as Kurama nodded and beckoned for him to follow.

"Are you mad at me?" the redhead asked as they stood in line for concessions.

Hiei stuffed his hands in his pockets and glared at the floor in response. "Yes. You really owe me for this one, Fox. I put up with that worthless human for your sake, because he's important to you. That's as good as it gets. You should have known better. I thought you were supposed to be smart?"

A sigh escaped Kurama. "As did I," he murmured.

The first movie was an action film, with decent special effects. Hiei couldn't say much for the plot line, but at least the sword fighting looked real. He could almost put up with watching it. If it weren't for the fact that his best friend and said best friend's boyfriend were both snuggled together under the same blanket right beside him. He made a disgusted noise, which Kurama completely ignored.

"Shuichi," Yoshi murmured. "I don't think he likes me very much. He keeps giving me the evil eye. Creepy little short guy…"

"Don't be silly," Kurama urged. "Hiei likes you just fine."

"No I don't," Hiei clarified. "I hate him."

"See?" Yoshi groaned. "I didn't do anything to him. What's with this hostility?"

Kurama rubbed his temples to prevent the oncoming headache. "You two, please. Just get along this one time. For my sake?"

"No," Hiei replied point blank. He stuffed a handful of popcorn in his mouth and munched it extra loud on purpose.

"You know, maybe I should just kick your ass," Yoshi suggested, glaring at Hiei. This brought a bout of laughter from Hiei that had Yoshi's eye twitching in irritation. "Oh come on, Shorty, I could totally cream you in a fight."

Kurama rubbed Yoshi's arm soothingly. "You really couldn't, love," he assured him.

Hiei turned to look at them with a positively evil smirk on his face. "Let him try, Kurama. If he throws the first punch, it give me the right to punch him back."

"Hiei… certain people would not see it that way," Kurama replied, referring to Spirit World, of course. "I don't want to see you in trouble any more than I want to see my boyfriend getting beat up by my best friend. I really just want you both to get along." He gave Hiei a pleading expression that he knew the Jaganshi couldn't ignore, no matter how irritated he was.

"… Fine, whatever," the little demon muttered, crossing his arms across his chest moodily and staring at the TV screen.

* * *

After the show was over, they drove back to Kurama's house, where Yoshi had left his own car. Of course, this ride was even worse than the first one because it was even darker outside, and Kurama and his boyfriend were feeling _romantic. _Yoshi kept murmuring sappy things to Kurama under his breath that would make Kurama smile and occasionally the fox would laugh out loud.

Hiei felt like a complete outsider as he sat in the middle of the backseat, staring at them each in turn while they completely ignored him. Was it traditional for humans to become oblivious everyone else when they were in a relationship? It was very out of character for Kurama. Hiei was used to being the top priority. He was the most interesting person in Kurama's life, right?

This Yoshi… well, he just had to go. He was _not _welcome, as far as Hiei was concerned. Kurama was _his _friend. Why should he have to share with some stupid human that Kurama had only known for the last few months? What made Yoshi so much better?

The ride seemed to last forever. In fact, it had Hiei so bored out of his skull that he was counting the trees they passed along the road as they went, and when that became uninteresting, he starting counting cars on the road; anything to divert his attention from the two sickening love birds in the front.

Finally, the car pulled up in the driveway of Kurama's house. "Thanks for coming, Yoshi," Kurama murmured as he and the human got out of the car. Hiei settled for glaring at the pavement as a substitute for looking at them cuddling each other as he stepped out. Shutting the door, he glanced over at them, hoping he'd missed whatever lovey-dovey goodbyes they were giving each other.

Of course, it was just his luck that they had picked that moment to have a goodnight kiss, right there in the parking lot. It was deep and clearly passionate and Hiei's gut clenched painfully as he watched. It was like Kurama really did love this guy; and this guy really did love Kurama back.

Did he have any right to come between them? If this guy made Kurama happy… And, obviously, Hiei wasn't a good candidate for making Kurama happy himself. Kurama didn't want him. Kurama didn't have feelings for him the same way that he had feelings for Yoshi.

Finally, Yoshi left and Hiei took note of the sad smile on Kurama's face as the human's car pulled out of the driveway. "Well, then, that was an interesting evening," the fox remarked, turning to Hiei. "I'm sorry, Hiei… You seemed very uncomfortable all evening. Is something wrong?"

Hiei thought about telling him that yes, there was something wrong, and it was the fact that Kurama was wasting his time with some human while Hiei was madly in love with him. However, he didn't. He shook his head, instead, and tried to force a tiny smile. "No. Everything's fine," he lied.

And he knew, when Kurama smiled back in relief, that he was never going to tell Kurama the truth.

END


End file.
